Shenanigans of politics

 After a week of intense speculations and political machination, the political drama in Karnataka  ended after the shaky Congress-JDS coalition led by Kumaraswamy lost the trust vote by 105-99 to   the BJP. The halfway mark of the house is 112 but one seat for Anglo-Indians was not filled and two other seats remaining vacant. Since 15 rebel MLAs from Congress(12) and JDS(3) had stayed away and given protection against disqualification by the Supreme Court, the halfway mark was reduced to 105. Out of the 209 MLAs eligible to vote, 105 BJP MLAs voted against the government, 99 Congress and JD (S) MLAs voted for the coalition, while two independent MLAs and a BSP MLA abstained. Speaker and nominated member were not eligible to vote. The JDS has a chequered history in Karnataka politics and has never completed the full terms either with Congress of BJP. After the 2004 assembly elections, no party was anywhere near the majority mark of 112. Out of a total of 224 seats, the BJP won 79, the Congress 65 and the JD (Secular) 58. JDS combined with Congress and N Dharam Singh (Congress) became chief minister  and Siddharamiah (of JDS) the Deputy chief minister. The coalition  lasted till 2006 following the expulsion of state JDS president and Deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah from the party by Deve Gowda. Then Deve Gowda’s son HD Kumaraswamy, also of the JDS, brought in a new twist when he garnered support of 46 other MLAs and withdrew support from the Congress. Kumaraswamy then became chief minister after he struck a deal with the opposition party, the  BJP, to form an alternative government. The JDS-BJP coalition was  as shaky and Kumaraswamy later withdrew support to the BJP when he refused to let Yeddyurappa to be  chief minister as per agreement. After a brief spell of president’s rule, Yeddyurappa returned back after JDS decided to back him. However, that also did not last. Later In 2008 Yeddyurappa returned power after BJP was able to form the first ever government with support of independents. He however, had to quit in 2011 after being indicted for corruption.  Sadanand Gowda took over as chief minister and later was replaced by Jagdish Shettiar. In 2013 the INC under erstwhile Janata Parivar leader Siddaramaiah won the election with an absolute majority of 122 seats (including the Piriyapatna seat), nine more than the majority mark of 113. As a result, the INC returned to power on its own after nine years with Siddaramaiah becoming the Chief Minister. In 2018 BJP under Yeddyurappa won 104 seats while incumbent Congress won 80 and the JDS won 37. Yeddyurappa was appointed chief minister on My 17,2018 but resigned two days later before the trust vote after failing to cobble up a majority. The fate of the 15 rebel Congress and JDS MLAs will be decided by the next speaker who is likely to be from the BJP. The rebels face disqualification for acting against their respective party whips. The next BJP government will last only if it is able to poach MLAs from other parties. Be that as it may, for the Congress its setback in Karnataka can be squarely blamed on the greed of its state party leaders who have placed self interests before party.